Lee Myung-hee (; born 5 September 1943) is a South Korean business magnate and the chairwoman of the Shinsegae Group. She is the youngest daughter of

Lee Byung-chul Lee Byung-chul ( Korean: 이병철 12 February 1910 – 19 November 1987) was a South Korean businessman. He was the founder of the Samsung Group, which is South Korea's largest chaebol, and he is considered one of South Korea's most success ...

, founder of the

Samsung Group The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ' ...

and the sister of the former late chairman

Lee Kun-Hee Lee Kun-hee (, ; 9 January 194225 October 2020) was a South Korean business magnate who served as the chairman of Samsung Group from 1987 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2020, and is credited with the transformation of Samsung to one of the world's la ...

. Lee became the company's chairwoman in 1997 following its separation from

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and is credited for growing it into the country's second-largest retailer. With an estimated net worth of $840 million she is one of the wealthiest people in South Korea and was ranked 20th on

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

2017 list of 50 Richest Koreans.

Biography

Lee was born in

Uiryeong County Uiryeong County () is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Uiryeong County has a population of 27,550 (2019) and is one of the least populated counties in South Korea. History In 1938, Lee Byung-chull, a resident of Uiryeong, fo ...

to Samsung founder

and his first wife Park Du-eul as the youngest of eight children. She attended

Ewha Girls' High School Ewha Girls' High School ( ko, 이화여자고등학교) is a private girls high school located in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Although managed by the same foundation, it is not to be confused with the coeducational Ewha Womans Unive ...

and then majored in art at Ewha Womans University before marrying. After ten years of being a

homemaker Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a hous ...

she became a sales executive at Shinsegae Department Store in 1979 and then its Chairwoman in 1997 after the company was separated from Samsung.

Financial scandals

During her time as chairwoman Lee has been fined on three occasions. The first was in 2006 for 350 billion won ($300 million) after she hid 800 billion wons worth of stock under different names. In 2012 the Fair Trade Commission fined Lee 4 billion won ($3.4 million) for charging different transaction fees. Then in 2015 she was fined 70 billion won for hiding 380,000 company shares worth 80 billion won ($68 million) under different names.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Myung-hee 1943 births Living people South Korean billionaires Female billionaires Ewha Womans University alumni Samsung people People from South Gyeongsang Province South Korean women in business 20th-century South Korean businesspeople 21st-century South Korean businesspeople 20th-century businesswomen 21st-century businesswomen Lee family (South Korea)